Sony Dismisses PS5 Buyers' $508M Tariff Refund Claim as 'Illogical'

In brief

• Sony asked a California federal judge on Monday to throw out a class action seeking a share of its tariff refunds.
• It expects $508 million back from the U.S. government after the Supreme Court struck down the 2025 tariffs.
• Microsoft and Nintendo have filed near-identical arguments, while Playdate maker Panic is passing its refunds on.

Sony has asked a federal judge to dismiss a class action demanding that PlayStation 5 buyers get a share of the $508 million it expects to recover in tariff refunds, in a motion filed Monday and reported by Game File.

"Paying fair market price for voluntarily purchased consumer goods is not a legally cognizable injury in fact," Sony's lawyers wrote. They called the claim that tariffs caused the August 2025 price rise "speculative and illogical." The firm pointed to inflation, currency moves, component costs, logistics, competition and demand as alternative explanations without providing a breakdown of the costs and factors that applied to its price increases, Game File reported.

PlayStation prices went up again in March, five weeks after the tariffs fell, taking the standard PS5 to $649.99 in the U.S. and lifting prices in the U.K., Europe and Japan too. Had tariffs driven the first increase, the motion reasons, Sony would have cut prices once they disappeared instead of raising them again.